1981
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Fruit
Jeff pushes a cart loaded with fruit into the children's department. He knows it's fruit, and it "looks nice," but he doesn't know what it is so he consults his "What Is It?" book. When he finds out that fruit grows on trees, has seeds and that most are sweet and good to eat, he decides to try one. He chooses the lemon because yellow is his favorite color. He bites right into a lemon without even taking the peel off and his eyes pop wide open as the sour taste fills his mouth.
Jodie walks in just then. "Oh! You're eating a lemon! They're awfully sour! Gee, I've never seen anyone just bite into a lemon before."
Jeff's mouth is so puckered with distaste for the sour taste, he can barely speak.
"My What Is It book says that most fruits are sweet and good to eat!"
Jodie explains that most fruit is sweet but that some fruit like lemons and limes and grapefruit are not sweet at all, they're used mostly for cooking or to make lemonade. "Oooh, you didn't even take the peel off!"
"The peel?" Jeff asks. Jodie explains that the peel is the hard part on the outside and that it is not eaten. She demonstrates with an orange, showing him the peel and pulling out a piece for him to try.
Jeff rejects her offer, but Jodie tells him he'll like it.
"Now that's delicious!" Jeff says. Next he tries a peach, and an apple. Though he didn't like the lemon he likes all these other fruit.
Jodie explains that fruit doesn't only taste good but is good for you. She starts to sing, "Fruit is something that's delicious to eat", and she sings to him about all the different kinds of fruit. He joins in and they sing about all the good things about fruit.
Later, in the computer room, Sam plays a guessing game and asks us to guess what fruit he is thinking of. It is round, and its name is the same as a color. The answer is an orange of course, but afterwards we hear a voice call "Yoo hoo!". "Yoo hoo, up here!" Sam looks up and is met by a shower of oranges. "Son of a gun!" Sam exclaims, "An orange!"
Meanwhile, Muffy is trying to eat a grapefruit. But every time she tries, it squirts her in the eye!
Back in the children's department, Jeff asks Jodie what an apple tree looks like. She really doesn't know, so she asks Sam. Sam knows it has apples on it but not much else, but when Muffy comes along she shows them that there is an apple tree right there in the children's department. It is only 3 years old, so there are no apples on it yet, but there will be in a few years.
Jodie says there will be lots of apples then and Muffy can make them an apple pie. Muffy wonders if a pie is hard to make, and Sam says no, if he can make an apple pie then Muffy can.
"You can make an apple pie, Sam?" Jeff asks.
"Does a frog have legs?" Sam answers.
Actually, Sam just learned to make an apple pie because he stopped by to visit Jodie and she showed him how.
"He can also make quite a mess in your kitchen," Jodie adds.
Next we see that visit, with Sam in the kitchen rolling out the pastry (too big), using the rolling pin to pretend he's fencing, spilling lemon juice all over the place while he's supposed to be putting it on the apples, and playing "I Spy" with an apple with a hole in the middle. But eventually, together, Sam and Jodie put the pie together. Jodie crimps the edges with a fork, cuts slits in the top to let the steam out. She and Sam agree to have a big slice each when it's finished, with some ice cream.
Back in the store, Sam, Muffy, Jodie and Jeff sing about apples. "Apple cider and apple mousse, apple sauce and apple strudel . . ." and Sam ends with "apple tarts and apple noo-dles!"
"Apple noodles?" The others say.
In his computer room, Sam plays the fruit guessing game again, it's round and red and makes a terrific pie. An apple. Again we hear "Yoo hoo! Yoo hoo, up here!" Sam looks up and now apples rain down on him. "Must be standing under an apple tree!" says Sam.
Back in the children's department, Jodie reads us a fairy tale about Leila of Strawberry Land. Two countries Strawberry Land and Pineapple Land are enemies, and each thinks their fruit is the best. Every year the king of Strawberry Land has a contest to see who can make the best strawberry jam. Leila is beautiful young woman who meets and falls in love with the prince of Pineapple Land, but they were not allowed to marry because their lands were enemies. She is distracted and sad as she makes her jam for the king, and she accidentally puts a piece of pineapple she got from the prince in it. When she tastes it, it's so good, she decides to take it to the king. He declares it the best and gives her a wish. She wishes for peace between the two lands, and the prince and Leila get married. For their wedding, Leila makes a big batch of strawberry jam with pineapple and everyone thinks it's the best jam they've ever tasted.
After reading the story, Jodie says she'll have to try making strawberry jam with pineapple.
TXL presents a quiz to Sam and the rest of us. Which of these foods is a fruit? A sandwich, a watermelon or an ice cream cone. Sam guesses the watermelon and TXL says she thinks he's getting some help from somewhere.
"I think you have a lot of opinions for a computer -- darndest contraption!"
"I am not a contraption, I am a computer, TXL Series 4".
Now they sing back and forth. Sam says she's smart but sometimes he thinks he'd rather have a helper with a little heart. TXL produces a picture of a little heart right away.
"Little heart you wanna have, I have one right here!" she sings.
Sam next says he wishes TXL would make mistakes once in awhile.
TXL sings, "If mistakes you wanna have, you're not hard to please. I make mistakes all the time when you press wrong keys!"
Back in the children's department, Jodie has made some lemonade for Jeff to try. She doesn't want him to think lemons don't taste good because they do -- although not when you just bite into them with the peel on! She asks if we have ever had lemonade stands. She did, and she remembers it.
In a flashback we see Jodie with her lemonade and cookie stand, talking to a grownup and trying to sell some to her. Unfortunately, the grownup doesn't have any money.
In her mouse hole, Muffy praises fruit like grapes, strawberries and apricots, because she can eat them in one bite.
Back upstairs, Jeff comes in and Jodie tries to get him to try the lemonade -- he doesn't want to, not after he bit into that lemon earlier. Sam and Muffy didn't know that before, so Jeff explains that he was just learning about fruit and he didn't know that some fruit was sweet and some was sour. But now he has tasted all the fruit on Jodie's display and he knows which ones have peels and which ones don't. Now if only he'd try the lemonade.
"No, I'm not interested in lemonade!" Jeff insists. Muffy and Sam encourage him, so he finally tries it, and he likes it! "Hey. This is terrific. Are you sure this was made with lemons?"
Now Jeff has learned a lot about fruit and he begins to sing the song Jodie sang before, "Fruit is something that's delicious to eat". Sam, Muffy and Jodie join in as they all sing the praises of fruit.
Quizzes:
- Which fruit is not round? (with the mime lady)
- Peach, plum and pear all begin with the same sound. Which of these words starts with the same sound: car, pie or doll?
- Which of these foods is a fruit? (the watermelon)
- What is wrong with this picture of an apple tree and a strawberry plant?
Nursery Rhyme:
Notes:
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